State tests women in combat role

Army National Guard picked to help lead change in policy test

Updated 7:26 am, Friday, January 25, 2013

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Tanya Towne, Jan. 15, 2008, in Colonie, N.Y. The former specialist and radio repairer was stationed in Iraq in 2004-2005 with the New York Army National Guard?s Rainbow Division out of Troy. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Tanya Towne, Jan. 15, 2008, in Colonie, N.Y. The former specialist and radio repairer was stationed in Iraq in 2004-2005 with the New York Army National Guard?s Rainbow Division out of Troy. (Michael P. ... more

Photo: MICHAEL P. FARRELL

State tests women in combat role

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COLONIE — The New York Army National Guard will serve as a testing ground for the Pentagon's new policy of integrating females into combat battalions.

Saying women had proved themselves in Afghanistan and Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday lifted a 1994 rule that banned female service members from working with infantry troops and in combat roles. He also called on the military to establish gender-neutral standards for filling positions.

Recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the changes open up thousands of frontline and possibly special forces jobs to women. Branches of the military have until January 2016 to seek exceptions to the rules.

The New York Army National Guard will create a pilot program to help lead the change, the state Division of Military and Naval Affairs announced on Thursday. The Defense Department selected the New York National Guard's 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Syracuse, as one of nine Army National Guard brigades that will begin integrating women into battalion headquarters as part of the test program.

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Starting in May, female soldiers can apply for about 350 positions in four New York National Guard combat battalions that were previously limited to male applicants, state officials said. The landmark change means female citizen soldiers in the state can aspire to serve as Army medics, intelligence analysts, military chaplains and in other positions. Selections of eligible female soldiers will begin in the spring.

"I'm confident female soldiers are fully capable of performing critical skills in combat units," Maj. Gen. Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general of New York, said in a statement. He said the updated rules will provide new opportunities for female non-commissioned officers and commissioned officers, and enable the New York National Guard to fill positions with "the best qualified individual."

A total of 590 women in the New York Army National Guard have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and 39 of them were awarded the Combat Action Badge for serving under enemy fire or imminent danger, according to the National Guard.

"Our female soldiers have distinguished themselves in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world, working side-by-side with their male counterparts," Murphy said.

Women make up 14 percent of the 1.4 million active military personnel and about 16 percent of the New York Army National Guard's authorized troop strength of 10,009.

The positions opened to women are in the enlisted grades of sergeant, staff sergeant and sergeant first class. The New York National Guard will identify female soldiers for the assignments based on their occupational specialty and experience. Women in the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat team units will be considered first for the jobs. Female officers will be able to fill positions open to second and first lieutenants and captains.

Tanya Towne of Fort Plain, Montgomery County, worked as a radio repairer in Iraq in 2004-2005 with the New York Army National Guard's Rainbow Division out of Troy. She said allowing women to serve in combat units made sense because many women who served in Afghanistan and Iraq in the last 12 years joined in dangerous convoy and support and supply missions that put them in harm's way.

"I think it's wonderful because the military focuses on your physical attributes and stamina, and if the female is able to perform the role, there's no reason she couldn't be out there with the men," said Towne, a former specialist who is now 37. "It should be based on your physical capability."